Running head: DIETARY REQUIRMENTS FOR A PATIENT 1

Dietary Requirements for a Patient with Congestive Heart Failure

Evonne Piazza

University of South Florida

DIETARY REQUIREMENTS FOR A PATIENT WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES 2

Dietary Requirements for a Patient with Congestive Heart Failure

Heart failure is a term used for a collective group of symptoms resulting from decreased

heart muscle function. Unfortunately, there is no cure for congestive heart failure but there are

ways that it can be controlled. One of the ways to help control heart failure is by regulating diet.

The choices people make in their diets can help prevent effects from heart failure and can also

potentially improve the patients overall health (Cleveland Clinic, 2014). A patient with heart

failure can help improve their disorder by regulating their salt intake as well as regulating their

fluid intake.

Sodium restriction is one of the most important factors for a patient with chronic heart

failure to adhere to. Sodium absorbs water in the body and makes it more difficult for the heart to

pump effectively. Therefore, the higher the sodium intake results in more water being absorbed

in the body. Which in turn, decreases the hearts effectiveness by not being able to pump enough

oxygen throughout the body. By restricting the amount of sodium a patient with congestive heart

failure receives, it can lower the water being absorbed throughout the body and decrease the

workload of the heart. The lower sodium intake will increase the overall effectiveness of the

heart which will lead to better oxygenation of the body (Group Health, 2014). Also, people who

consume more fried foods show a positive and graded association between eating friend foods

and an incidence of heart failure (Djousse, Petrone, & Gaziano, 2015). Therefore, it is important

for a patient with heart failure to also eliminate fried foods in their diet to avoid a worsening

effect of their condition, especially since these fried foods are high in sodium. Instead, hear

failure patients should be eating foods low in sodium such as: fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh

meats, poultry, fish, dry and fresh legumes, eggs, milk and yogurt. However, the sodium content
DIETARY REQUIREMENTS FOR A PATIENT WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES 3

of these foods can increase if salt or other high sodium ingredients are added to them (Univeristy

of California San Francisco, 2013).

Patients with congestive heart failure should also be on a fluid restriction to improve

heart failure outcomes. Fluid restriction and sodium restriction work concurrently together in the

body. As stated in the previous paragraph, the more sodium the patient ingests, the more water in

retained. This consequently results in the heart having to work harder to pump blood throughout

the body due to the increase in blood volume from the water retention. Therefore, by restricting

fluid intake, it will lower the blood volume and decrease the workload for the heart. Recent

research studied whether low fluid intake was actually harmful to the patient due to the risk of

hypovolemia. During this trial, the researcher found that there was no concern for fluid

restriction and that it only showed positive outcomes on patients with heart failure (Konnerman,

2014). Research has also shown that patients with congestive heart failure should limit or

completely withhold from alcohol intake. According to this research, there is a J-shaped relation

between alcohol consumption and mortality rate. The patients who drank one to two glasses of

alcohol per day had less total mortality rate than patients who drank more. Alcohol can help raise

the patients blood pressure and slow the heart rate, which would then increase the workload of

the heart and worsen their condition (Pearson, 2015).

Since Mrs. Johnson has been put on a diuretic to help control the fluid in her body, her

potassium levels may drop. It is important for patients to know the signs of hypokalemia such as:

severe thirst, excessive urination, heart beat changes, weakness, and fatigue. Patients should be

informed to notify their doctor if they experience any of these signs. To help avoid hypokalemia,

patients taking potassium-losing diuretic can increase their intake of potassium (Cleveland

Clinic, 2014).
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References
Cleveland Clinic. (2014). Heart Failure. Retrieved from Cleveland Clinic:
my.clevelandclnic.org
Cleveland Clinic. (2014). Heart Failure - Nutrition. Retrieved from Cleveland Clinic:
my.clevelandclinic.org
Djousse, L., Petrone, A. B., & Gaziano, J. M. (2015). Consumption of fried foods and
risk of heart failure in the physicians' health study. Journal of the American
Heart Association, 8.
Group Health. (2014). Nutrition Tips for Congestive Heart Failure. Retrieved from
Group Health: www.ghc.org
Konnerman, M. (2014). Sodium Restriction in Heart Failure: Benefit or Harm? Curr
Treat Options Cardio Med, 12.
Pearson, T. (2015, July 14). Alcohol and Heart Disease. Retrieved from American
Heart Association: circ.ahajournals.org
Univeristy of California San Francisco. (2013). Diet and Congestive Heart Failure.
Retrieved from UCSF Medical Center: www.ucsfhealth.org